Rapid Fire: 2010-07-30
- Incredible Shrinking Budgets: Facing tightening defense budgets at home, European defense firms are looking to expand into service and support work and overseas markets.
- Profits Take Off: Britain’s BAE Systems and France’s Thales both posted substantial profit increases in the first half of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.
- But Not for Everyone: Raytheon reported a steep 57% decline in second-quarter profit to $208 million from $489 million in last year’s second quarter, due mainly to the cancellation of a GBP750 million contract with the UK Border Agency. Raytheon release.
- No We Didn’t: Rosoboronexport, the Russian state arms export agency, denies a report by the Russian business daily Vedomosti that it agreed to sell 2 S-300 PMU2 Favorit air defense battalions to Azerbaijan.
- Train Wreck: An independent panel [PDF] warns that a US national security “train wreck in coming” because of aging equipment, inadequate training of US military personnel, and a declining US naval fleet. It’s headed by former Clinton Defense Secretary Perry and former Bush National Security Advisor Hadley, and was set up to review the Quadrennial Defense Review process.
- C-17 wreck. Crash at Elmendorf in Alaska kills 4.
- US Army replacing good old TNT with BAE’s MX-101 formulation in artillery.
- Northrop Grumman lifts a pair of 195,000 pound diesel backup generators into the future USS Gerald R. Ford supercarrier, which is now 11% complete.
- Common Ground?: Center-left Progressive Policy Institute analyst Arkedis finds common ground with Republicans on the need to reform the US defense budget process.
